GOVERNOR: The Star Editorial Board endorses Mike Pence

For years, Indiana's governors tended to be caretakers. For all their strengths, Robert Orr, Evan Bayh, Frank O'Bannon and Joe Kernan weren't exactly visionaries as the state's chief executive. Nor they did drive change with anything approaching a sense of urgency.

For the most part, Hoosiers were content with that approach. Indiana certainly wasn't cutting-edge, but we were largely satisfied with who we were and what we had accomplished.

Mitch Daniels changed that dynamic. First elected in 2004, Daniels from the start promised to shake up state government's complacency and Hoosiers' contentment with mediocrity. He has, with a few important exceptions, succeeded in those goals.

Now, as Daniels prepares to exit the Statehouse, voters are faced with the question of which of three candidates for governor is best equipped to continue the work of transforming education, rebuilding the economy, and casting a vision for Indiana as a leader in the Midwest and the nation.

Republican Mike Pence, a six-term representative of Indiana's 6th Congressional District, has done the best job in this campaign of articulating a forward-thinking vision for the state. He understands the need to continue to push hard for improvements in the state's schools, including nontraditional approaches to reforming education in Indiana.

Pence has offered the best single idea of this year's campaign for governor -- a renewed emphasis on vocational training in high schools for those students who don't plan or aren't well equipped to attend college.

Vocational training isn't new to our schools, of course, but for years it has been relegated to secondary status because of the heavy emphasis placed on preparing students for higher education. Yet, vocational training offers several benefits. It can provide better marketable skills to students who want to work immediately after completing high school; it could reduce the high school dropout rate by giving more students incentives to stay in school; it provides alternatives to college to those students who aren't academically or developmentally ready for higher education; and it can strengthen the state's economy by providing employers with skilled workers and by increasing per capita income.

Pence's challengers in this race -- Democrat John Gregg and Libertarian Rupert Boneham -- are both likable, gregarious leaders who've brought a human focus to the campaign.

Gregg, however, has overplayed the "down home" shtick for a person who wants to lead a diverse state of 6.5 million people. A former Speaker of the Indiana House who has been out of elected office for a decade, Gregg needed to cast a vision of what Indiana could become, not what it has been.

Instead, the Sandborn resident has played up the quaintness of small-town life and talked repeatedly about a return to steel mills, traditional manufacturing, and rail cars hauling freight from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River.

Boneham, who until now was best known as a former star of the reality TV show "Survivor," has served Hoosiers and his Libertarian Party well in this campaign by introducing important topics that otherwise would have been overlooked. Those subjects include his ideas on how to help ex-offenders make a successful return to their communities.

Although Pence is the best candidate in this race, there are a couple of challenges.

The first is Pence's tendency to resort to lofty rhetoric and nonspecific ideas. As a member of Congress, Pence could get away with such an approach. But as the state's chief executive, he will need to be much more detail oriented. Casting vision is essential, but so too is keeping a close watch on the daily operations of state government.

The second area of concern is Pence's history of dwelling on social issues. Both Gregg and Pence are social conservatives, and Pence need not abandon his core beliefs, but he needs as governor to emphasize the things he's primarily talked about in this campaign -- education and jobs -- rather than issues that pull Hoosiers apart.

If he focuses on the big issues, and if he, like Daniels, pushes this state to embrace excellence, then Pence has the leadership skills necessary to be a strong governor.

Indiana appears on the verge of finally providing a better education for its children, reshaping its economy to compete more effectively, and providing an overall higher quality of life for its residents. Mike Pence, in this race, is the leader most likely to build on Mitch Daniels' accomplisments and help us achieve our long-term goals.

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GOVERNOR: The Star Editorial Board endorses Mike Pence

For years, Indiana's governors tended to be caretakers. For all their strengths, Robert Orr, Evan Bayh, Frank O'Bannon and Joe Kernan weren't exactly visionaries as the state's chief executive. Nor